Herbarium to Host Talk on Global Climate Change's Effects in the Sierra Nevada at Annual Meeting

The Chico State Herbarium is presenting a full afternoon of events at its annual meeting on Saturday, Nov. 3. A reception for the winners of the Native Plant Photo Contest begins at 3 p.m., followed by a talk by Erin Gottschalk Fisher, “Evaluating Vernal Pool Restoration for Two Rare Grasses,” at 4 p.m. Both take place in Holt 129. A talk by Connie Millar, paleoecologist with the USDA Forest Service, begins at 5 p.m. in Holt 268.

Millar will discuss the effects of global climate change in the Sierra Nevada in her talk, “From Mountain Tops to Canyon Bottoms: Climate’s Variable Effect on Sierran Ecosystems.” Millar, who has a PhD in genetics from UC Berkeley, is currently researching the role of historic and ongoing climate change in high-elevation forest biogeography, demography and adaptation. She works at the Pacific Southwest Research Station in Albany, Calif. Most recently, her research team has undertaken distributional and climatic studies of the American pika and its association with periglacial alpine landforms.

The Chico State Herbarium, located in Holt Hall 129, is the most complete repository of native plant specimens from northeastern California. For more information about the herbarium and its annual meeting, visit http://www.csuchico.edu/herbarium/index.shtml